Pigments having high infrared reflectance are known. For example, manganese vanadium oxide pigments having the formula MnxVyOz, where 2x+2.5y≧z provide infrared reflectance and are formed by a solid state reaction. In this method, the starting materials are mixed and ground together to form a fine and homogenous dry mix. While the synthesis of these mixed metal oxides using the solid state reaction is standard for such solid state processing, improvements may be made upon not only the existing material, but also the method of manufacturing the material.
Black pigments are known. For example, black pigments have been formed using black iron oxide on a mica substrate. Such pigments provide black color, but have weak to no metallic appearance (if at all) and lack sufficient smoothness. Other types of black pigments have been reported, but do not achieve a metallic black color, for example due to scattering of light by carbon.
Currently, there are “cool black” pigments that comply with certain standards for Solar Reflectance. However, such “cool pigments” are typically dark brown in color, and are not true black pigments, i.e., the pigments do not give a black appearance when viewed at an angle. Furthermore, many of these products contain undesirable elements such as chromium.